Mindfire Solutions

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and CEO of Genesis Media Group, Inc., a software development firm.

What challenge were you trying to address with Mindfire Solutions?

We needed a company that’s experienced in DNN, .NET, and C# to augment our development team and assist us in bigger software development projects.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Mindfire Solutions to assist us in our software development projects. We have internal programmers in our team, but we use Mindfire Solutions whenever we need to scale up and accommodate bigger projects. Their main responsibilities include mobile and web app development and app store optimization.

Recently, they’ve helped us develop a mobile application for one of our clients using Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android. They helped us do some customizations on the app’s shopping cart and handle several API integrations, which included payment processing services, tax calculation services, and payment solutions for our client’s distributors.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with a team of four programmers and one project manager from Mindfire Solutions for most of the projects.

How did you come to work with Mindfire Solutions?

Mindfire Solutions actually contacted me years ago to ask if I needed some offshore programmers. I gave them a small project to see how they would perform. They delivered excellent work, so we decided to work with them on more projects.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $300,000 in total so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2012, and the engagement is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Over the last 10 years, Mindfire Solutions has been involved in most of our projects. I can definitely say that they’re excellent at what they do — we wouldn’t have continued working with them if we weren’t pleased with their work.

How did Mindfire Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Mindfire Solutions has performed exceptionally well in terms of project management. They use an internal project management system and we also have a shared Google doc where I can give them access to the work I’m doing. We’ve never had any issues with timelines — they’re always on time, if not ahead of schedule.

We primarily communicate with them through Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I'm really impressed with Mindfire Solutions’ strong work ethic and high-quality work. I also appreciate how they're always willing to do whatever is necessary to get the job done and make sure it’s delivered on time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve had minor communication issues before, which we were able to resolve very quickly. Other than that, I don’t think there’s anything else they could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to be clear about what you want to achieve and to document it very well. The Mindfire Solutions team is very intelligent — if you give them proper documentation, they can take the project and run with it.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Owner, CEO

For what projects/services did your company hire Mindfire Solutions, and what were your goals?

I wanted to build a SAAS application for mental health providers and, since I have an IT/graphic design background, I wanted to do some of the hands-on work myself. I had been hiring individual developers to carry out the parts of the work I wasn't trained for. However, some were better than others, and also, as people would come and go, I'd have to take time for the hiring process of finding/interviewing new people, which has never been my favorite thing to do.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I found Mindfire's website online and just from reading it, they looked like a company I might be able to do my dream with. They described themselves as dedicated to working with each of their clients to find the solution that works best for that particular client. Although they thought it a bit unusual that I wanted to work alongside my team - do some of the work myself - they worked with me to find a way for that to happen. Also, they totally manage the hiring part. Their developers tend to stay quite a while so there's not a lot of turn-over. But when I do get notified that a member of what I consider "my team" has decided to move on, they already have a new person waiting in the wings. There's no downtime. The original developer stays on long enough to train the new one and I don't have to spend my time on ANY of those kinds of issues. I've been quite pleased with all the developers I've been assigned over the years.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We started off with a storefront site, a web app, and a support site, using LAMP technologies. Over the years, we've added a mobile app and a webRTC product, so are now also using Symfony, NodeJS, Socket.io, Twilio, VueJS, Ajax, JQuery, Bootstrap, Laravel. They've also build other tools we need to run our company - an admin panel, a bug reporting tool, etc.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I started with two developers and have expanded to 4. We also keep a QA person on staff, who's been with us from the very beginning, so she knows all of our products inside and out. We've also had people who specialize in WordPress (for our store front) and graphic design from time to time.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We've been able to launch several completely new, separate apps. Basically, if I can dream it, they can build it, which is EXACTLY what I've wanted. Each time we launch a new app or feature within an existing app, our subscriber base grows, as more and more people are drawn to what we're offering.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Without fail, every developer Mindfire has sent to me has been bright, kind, courteous, respectful and adaptable. I interact with ALL of them, which I love. They also communicate among themselves - even when things switched to remote work because of COVID. Basically, we've all been flexible - adjusting to whatever seems to be needed. I also frequently request input from the team on my ideas. They never disappoint. They often come up with suggestions to make one of my ideas much better. They're independent thinkers who also function well as a team. Doesn't get better than that.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I have loved the sense of having my own team - being able to work with them the way I see fit. Although higher-ups at Mindfire WOULD get involved if I needed that (and have, at times when I needed some expert opinions/guidance), most of the time, they stay out of my way and let me run the show the way I see fit. It's the perfect balance of having help/experience there if you need it and yet being allowed to do your own thing.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I recently asked for a change in reporting. In the past, 2 of the main developers reported to the 3rd one, who then wrote daily updates for me. I decided I'd rather get reports from each of them and have also asked them to be more specific. In other words, instead of saying, "Worked on eSign module" or "Worked on bugs" now they say things like, "- DB changes - new columns for saving type 3 and 4 requests - JS changes in Compose Email form for saving type 3 and 4 requests - Pagination in "Manage eSign requests" tool - UI - Working on SQL changes for implementing pagination for the requests in "Manage eSign requests" tool" or "Fixed bug #2515; still looking for a solution to bug #1222." We just started this new way of doing things this week, but so far, I'm liking it much better. It enables me to keep a better pulse on what each person is doing in a day.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder and CEO of the company. We run an image-editing service and imaging AI software services.

For what projects/services did your company hire Mindfire Solutions, and what were your goals?

We worked with Mindfire to develop a customer-facing website and back-office management system for our new service. It included a membership website, connection to a payment gateway, and structured object-oriented operational workflow. Our goal was to launch the service as quickly as possible with a minimum requirement, but including a high-level design for extensive features to post the launch.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Based on working with a couple of independent software vendors in India for 10 years, they were the best in view of talent pools, and coverage of multi-layer expertise.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We did about a month of upstream discussions of the required technology stack, resources, and goal of the project. Then we get a shortlist of engineers with multiple parts of the role.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Total 6 guys.

• A scrum master
• an UI/UX designer
• a frontend developer
• 3 backend developers

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

It is still going on. The project was well managed in a theoretical agile manner. Sprint and tasks are being discussed in stipulated iteration and being updated timely. Testing is running along with the development, too.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We streamline the communication using:

• JIRA
• Google Drive
• Slack
• Figma
• Miro

Updates are happening timely.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They have a very good communication flow, showing flexibility and smooth development operations.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Specific technology stack like MLOps, HPC, etc.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the President & GM of InspekTech who provides building Appraisals and Risk Assessments for Insurance purposes in residential, commercial, and light industrial areas.

For what projects/services did your company hire Mindfire Solutions, and what were your goals?

IT system development and APP engineering. Upgrades to our LAMP environment and servers + custom developmen of a Field APP.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We looked at firm integrity, IT skill levels, project mgmt ability, fair pricing, planning competencies, relationship, and communication-work accessbility.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Determination of best code updates to our existing LAMP environment that runs the backend of our web portal that is both client and internally facing. Ongoing system upgrades and enhancements alongside custom development of a Field APP from scratch, all on going work.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We primarily work with 3 main people of which one is a full-time IT engineer for us. Together they represent highl project planning and IT development roles in our firm.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Ours has been a large project(s) involving mutli-faceted outcomes measurable by time and achievement to goals within a flexible framework. We're very happy with ongoing deliverables as work continues.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We love the project management style as it's one of being formal when needed (intense planning) and informal when possible. Communication happens often and all players at Mindfire that we work with are very accessible - this is huge for us. We always know what's going on and if we get out of the loop, it's easy to get back up to speed.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Past IT awards (Deloitte, D&B, Zinnov, etc.), integrity, IT skills, project mgmt ability, fair pricing, planning competencies, relationship, and work-communications accessbility.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Pricing model is a little inflexible in that if you have little IT work in a given period, you still pay full price for the IT Engineer(s). Or sometimes you may need to just pause and come up for air and regroup, but of course billings still occur (and fair enough, that's the price you would pay for a full-time employee anyway). Even with that, Mindfire has worked with us when we did need to pause for a month or two, and they were very good to discuss pricing at a couple of stages in that regard - and were very cooperative to our benefit.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Senior Solutions Architect at BYL Risk Management. We provided accounts receivable outsourcing and background screening services to our clients across many industries, primarily in healthcare and property management. We also offer custom development to our clients that need to provide services back to their customers.

For what projects/services did your company hire Mindfire Solutions, and what were your goals?

We had a few big opportunities come up that required a sudden ramp-up of multiple teams. We needed good full-stack .net/SQL developers and Mindfire delivered. We were up and working in our project within a week

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We have known of Mindfire for a few years through a friend that had been working with them for 10 years. They came strongly recommended.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We provided top level design documents, interface UML and SQL models, from which we worked together on creating our Jira backlog. We use the Microsoft technology stack, .NET core V6

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We are currently working with 2 skilled developers and a technical manager. We are in the process of adding 2 more developers and then another 2 after next month.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The sprints are starting and completing as planed and we are on track.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Our project manager is involved in the conversations, catching potential pitfalls, making technical suggestions and keeping resources aligned and the project on track.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We receive complete care from the developers up to senior management. We were just on a call today with upper management where they were making suggestions on the resources and skill sets that we will need for the upcoming months.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Not at this time

Please describe your company and your position there.

I own planitretail. A marketing and media agency.

For what projects/services did your company hire Mindfire Solutions, and what were your goals?

We hired Mindfire to build out our software application that supports our internal team which includes making feature enhancements and general support ongoing.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Experience and scalability at a moments notice

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Much of the application has been written in python. We regularly collaborate on feature enhancements as well as trouble shooting over web calls. The software is web based.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

mostly engineers and senior engineers. Typically ranges from 2-4 developers with all work prioritized and directed by me and my team.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Outcomes of deliverables include productive tools utilized by our internal team as well as tools made available for our clients. A variety of new challenges have been sent to Mindfire and they consistently produce results and figure out solutions even of it is something the team has not built before.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We use Google chat and shared docs for collaboration with the team. Significant time difference is manageable. Aligning to and meeting deadlines can be challenging but that is also a function of ever changing specs as well.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I am impressed with their ability to find solutions for almost all of the projects that we assign them.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Ability to meet deadlines can improve

Please describe your company and your position there.

SID is an association of scientists and engineers involved in R&D of Displays (Touch/Flexible). I am Sr. Technical Program Manager at SID which has 40 chapters around the globe. I manage all technical projects that SID needs for its websites/members db/events (virtual + onsite)/publishing.

For what projects/services did your company hire Mindfire Solutions, and what were your goals?

SID members' database utilities and website functionality needed enhancements. Our goals were to deploy the enhancements with minimal service interruptions and in a timely manner such that there were no disruptions to our scheduled conferences with audience across the globe.

How did you select Mindfire Solutions and what were the deciding factors?

We have worked with Mindfire in the past (since 2013) as they were one of the recommended DNN (Microsoft .Net) app development consulting firms. They were quick to respond to our initial RFQ with a very competitive quote. Their engineers have been good to work with - understanding the project requirement with concrete development and support.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

One of the critical deliverables was the upgrade of DNN installation which was a breaking release as many of the outdated TLS dependencies had to be tested and the apps that depended on it had to be enhanced. The staging environment was refreshed and DNN upgrade, app enhancement was tested before deployment to production.

Another major deliverable was the reskinning of entire SID websites (sid.org and displayweek.org) which was also tested in staging before deployment to production.

How many people from the Mindfire Solutions team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There were 2 people assigned for our project from MindFire one engineer and a technical lead.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The project commenced with successful launch of the newly designed website and enhanced web apps with minimal interruptions to our members.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

All communications were done via email and Skype instant messaging. The engineers were quick to respond to my concerns even though at times situation got tough given the Covid-19 outbreak in their region and time difference.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The team was professional in understanding and deploying the project.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

There is always room for improvement in any project, maybe more diligent testing and research will help with fewer disruptions in deployment.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm CEO of a software company which develops software for Media companies.

For what projects/services did your company hire Mindfire Solutions, and what were your goals?

We were dealing with expensive software licensing issues with a previous technology and needed to develop and build our software in the Cloud.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

After doing a search for a new developer, we found that Mindfire had the right skills, support, and pricing. One of the most important factors in making a decision was ensuring we had high visibility into the development process and very strong communication between their team and ours.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

A complete rebuild from an older licensed software product to a completely new technology on the cloud. I prefer not to get into a deep dive of the technologies we are using.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We have 4 Mindfire Staff working on this with us, including 2 Developers, 1 Project Manager/Team Lead and 1 Q/A person.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We are continually in development on our products in order to be competitive in our fast-moving market. Our overall "measurable outcomes" are basically that my clients are happy with the end-product and feel like whatever we develop makes them more effective and efficient. Mindfire has made this possible for us.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We had weekly meetings to discuss progress, clarify any required features and functions and also opened a Skype/WhatsApp Group to keep up to date on any questions/concerns/updates.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Mindfire continually brought in any needed talent to support any aspects of project that needed deeper consulting without adding any extra costs to our budget. If our Team needed extra support from the Mindfire team of developers across different disciplines, they brought them in for us.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Overall, they did an excellent job. I would say that there were periods where my company had a lot going on and we weren't supportive of the goals we had all set-up together so some timelines lagged because of my company and team not being more on top of the project plan.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was Vice President of Clinet Delivery leading the UK Client Services Delivery and IT Services functions, working for Blackhawk Network, a US based Credit & Gifting Card specialist

For what projects/services did your company hire Mindfire Solutions, and what were your goals?

Mindfore were in position when i joined Blackhawk Network in December 2012 They had been hired to provide support; maintenance and devlopment services to our iOrchestrate Marketing Channel Support and Rewards Platform

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Skillset, Cost, flexibility and collaborative working relationship

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Full project lifecycle from Quotation thru pre-sales, specification, development, testing and implementation.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

A fully sub-contracted support and maintenance team numbering from memory c.20 people at peak, from Project Manager through team leaders, technical support, programming support staff

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Good quality, on time delivery

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Daily standups, with constant communication and joint team working throughout the working day.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They had the willingness to be fully flexible and to rise up to the challenges of some of our more unrealistic deadline requests.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

no